In the congressional battle being waged over the Iran nuclear deal, critics point to a likely windfall of cash and weapons that could flow from Tehran to terror groups, including the Islamist militant movement Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel.

Yet assertions that Hamas will benefit from the Iran deal are far from certain. Hamas is officially on the outs with Iran — and has been for several years.

Whether a newly ascendant Iran, flush with petrodollars and free from economic sanctions, would bring Hamas back into its orbit as a client sub-state is one of the great unanswered questions bedeviling military analysts and intelligence agencies in the Middle East.

In the past three years, there is ample evidence that relations between Hamas and Iran have suffered badly — to the point that Hamas is now seeking support from Iran’s biggest adversary in the region, Saudi Arabia.